Wandering on the Kopárok

Itinerary

• From the Tárogató Street parking lot, we follow the S trail to the S▲ junction.
• From the junction, we take a detour on the S▲ trail to the Huszonnégyökrös Hill.
• Returning to the junction, we follow the S trail to the saddle between Kis-Csík Hill and Csík Hill.
• From the saddle, we take the unmarked trail branching left, then immediately right, to reach the other saddle point of Csík Hill.
• From the saddle, turning right on the S trail, we return to the meadow visited earlier.
• From the meadow, we descend steeply on the unmarked path branching left to Sóska Street.
• We follow Sóska Street to Tárogató Street.
• On Tárogató Street, we turn left, which leads back to the starting point.

Detailed description of the route

We start our hike from the parking lot in front of the playground on Tárogató Street in Budaörs. In the shady park, wooden, metal, and rope playground equipment await children, and at the entrance there is a drinking fountain and a portable toilet.

Delicate panoramas

Right after starting, we begin climbing uphill on Tárogató Street, following the S trail. We ascend between tidy gardens and relatively new houses on an increasingly steep hillside. Our trail bypasses a barrier, narrows, and enters the forest. After a few steps, the air is filled with the resin scent of pine trees. As we climb higher, on our left we occasionally notice well-trodden, branching paths. Following them, short round-trip detours lead to viewpoints that give a taste of the view from the peak of Huszonnégyökrös Hill.

Top of the tops!

The S trail turns right, and we continue on the S▲ path leading to Huszonnégyökrös Hill. Approaching the summit, the forest thins step-by-step. On both sides of the trail, the hillside becomes steeper, and finally, we reach the summit adorned with white dolomite rocks, whose northern side drops almost vertically into the depths. Although the 288-meter peak does not offer a full panoramic view, the suddenly opening landscape is beautiful nonetheless.

If we turn our head to the right, nature dominates the scene. Closest to us are Csík Hill, then Ló Hill, with Szállás Hill rising behind them. In the distance, the red and white tower reaching the sky makes Széchenyi Hill easily identifiable. Opposite us, strangely regular geometric shapes attract attention. This is the Budaörs Military Cemetery and Peace Park, resting place of German and Hungarian soldiers who fell in World War II in Hungary. Slightly further away, Kecske Hill rises alone, hiding behind it the Farkashegy airfield, whose presence is mainly revealed by occasionally taking off, landing, or circling gliders above our heads. The edge of the Budakeszi Basin is dotted colorfully by the buildings of the eponymous town, among which stands out the huge complex of the National Medical Rehabilitation Institute.

Looking left, our eyes scan a landscape transformed by humans: below us, the industrial park buildings of Budaörs and, farther away, those of Törökbálint emerge, into which the sparkling, elongated water surface of Törökbálint Lake conspicuously blends.

The legend of the twenty-four oxen

There are several stories explaining how the rocky prominence got its name. Perhaps the most interesting tells of a local, confident but quite overweight butcher who bet someone 24 oxen that he could run up the 288-meter-high peak nonstop in one go. Although he won the bet, his body could not withstand the unusual strain: he collapsed dead at the top. Another explanation dates back to the Turkish era, when invading soldiers occupying the area could only haul their cannon up the hilltop with 24 oxen. (An interesting fact is that the nearby Törökugrató was formerly called Hatvantulkos Hill, analogous to Huszonnégyökrös Hill.)

Flower cavalcade

After returning from the viewpoint, we continue left on the S trail. We wind through a cool, shady tree tunnel on a gently sloping path. After a Y-junction, we step out of the shadowy trees and are greeted at the edge of a meadow by the colorful splendor of flowers from spring to autumn.

This meadow can be considered lucky: vegetation has managed to establish itself on the once barren dolomite scree made of magnesium and calcium – but if we visit nearby Törökugrató or the bare top of Farkas Hill, we see how hard the plants living here must struggle to root in the soil. The dolomite rock grassland here is home to many protected and strictly protected plants. We may encounter Saint Stephen's carnation, Hungarian gurgolya, black pasqueflower, pasqueflower, bristly restharrow, and many other flowers, whose identification is aided by a board standing in the meadow.

The realm of coniferous pine forests

We cross the meadow and once again enter the forest. We skirt around the hump of Kis-Csík Hill on the right, then arrive at the saddle leading to Csík Hill – here, at the triple junction, we leave the S trail and turn left. On a single-track path occasionally decorated with white rocks, the pine forest planted to save the barren landscape takes the main role: the soft carpet of needles spreads beneath our feet.

On our trail, we draw a semicircle around the forested peak of Csík Hill, then on the far side, at Öröm Valley, we meet the S trail again, turning right to return. On the southern side of the hilltop, there is a short, a few-meter-long section where (especially with small children) caution is advised: at the top of a relatively steep slope, the scree trail narrows. We proceed here carefully, paying attention to every step, as it is easy to slip and fall.

Soon we reach a familiar junction: the saddle between Kis-Csík Hill and Csík Hill. Following the trail, we briefly step onto a previously walked section, then leaving the ridge rising on our right, we switch to the unmarked path branching left at the first opportunity. We cross a wildflower meadow on the steep, scree-covered slope, then descend further in the forest. Finally, we end up on Sóska Street in front of some panoramic weekend houses, going right and downhill. At the T-junction, we turn left onto the familiar Tárogató Street, reaching the starting point of the route.